She smiled, one of those bright, sweet smiles that made Ethan think of the sun coming out from behind rain clouds. “A Scrub-a-Pup scrub-a-thon.”
A laugh of disbelief stuttered out of him. “A what?”
“I’m volunteering for Heidi’s scrub-a-thon.”
He glanced through the front windows of the store to the dog-grooming salon called Scrub-a-Pup across the street. It was owned by Heidi Montgomery, a woman who’d been in Delaney’s high school class, and there were people and dogs filling the sidewalk out front. “No way.”
“Proceeds go to the local ASPCA.” She glanced at her watch, then took it off and pushed it into her pocket. “Her business needs a little boost, and scrubbing pups on the curb of Main Street will certainly bring attention. I’m gonna go make some dirty dogs shine.”
“Why am I sure that was your idea?”
She just smiled and started past him.
He fell into step beside her and kept his voice low when he said, “Meet me at Patterson’s later?”
“Ethan, you’re not thinking with the correct anatomy.”
“That means you want to, right?”
She cast him a sidelong look. “Wanting and doing are very different things.”
“If that’s the case, someone’s not trying hard enough.”
That got her laughing and shot a burst of accomplishment through his chest as they turned the corner toward the exit.
Phoebe was back at the register and looked up. “Well, that’s a nice sound.”
Delaney leaned across the counter to kiss her aunt, and her shorts rode up a delicious inch. “See you at home later.”
“Don’t stay up late again,” Phoebe said with clear warning in her voice and a withering look at Ethan. “Sleep repairs the body.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Delaney called as she pushed through the front door. Once they were down the stairs and on the sidewalk again, she glanced toward him. “I’m not meeting you tonight, Ethan. We both know we’re already treading dangerous water—”
“Ethan.”
His father’s familiar, hostile bark came from their right, and all Ethan’s fight reflexes flipped on. He turned to face Jack head-on, sidestepping to shield Delaney from the harsh onslaught with his body. The move might have been unnecessary, but it was instinctual.
He reached back and closed his hand around Delaney’s arm to reassure her and found her skin cold. “Can’t talk, Dad. I’m on my way to an appointment.”
“Well, it can’t be the one you just canceled at the last min—” His dark eyes flashed past Ethan’s shoulder, and a combination of shock and rage erupted across his face. “Is this why you’re not at Judge Davis’s river house right now? Is she the reason you cut your meeting short with Boyd and made a reckless error in your inspect—”
“The error was yours for telling Boyd he could swap out sprinklers for lights. Especially given it goes directly against the building code of the city you represent as mayor.”
He tried to keep his tone even, knowing his father could easily turn wildly vindictive when his ego was raging, but Ethan wasn’t backing down. Not this time. Not with Delaney in his father’s crosshairs.
“The error was yours when you told Boyd I’d overlook the infraction. The error was Boyd’s for listening to you. There was no error in not signing off on his final until those sprinklers were back in, because that is the law, Mayor. And as the mayor, it would be smart of you to back the fuck off, because you’re not looking very mayoral to the constituents of Wildwood right now.”
A moment of silence fell. While the realization that they were being watched cooled Jack’s fiery eyes, Delaney eased her arm from Ethan’s grasp and moved back before stepping out from behind him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, her tone soft but businesslike. “I’ll just get going. Good to see you again, Ethan. Mayor Hayes.”
She turned toward the street, unhurried, head up, and Ethan was hit with a profound sense of awe. No one held themselves together in front of his father in a rage. Even Ethan had to work up the guts to face the man. All while acting like being with Ethan was a coincidence to make sure he avoided his family’s wrath.
Who did that?
Before she reached the street, his father stepped into her path and wrapped his hand around her bicep.
Ethan moved without thinking. He lunged for his father’s wrist and gripped it hard while he wedged his body between the two of them again. He was strung so tight he was vibrating.